This poem was inspired by the story of Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus in Luke 19:1-10. Sometimes we think we can see Jesus best from high above in the trees, when truly he is best seen in action among the people down below.

God bless

“Rabbi”
Rabbi, Rabbi,
I listen to you from treetops,
imagining myself a little closer
to sky-soaring righteousness,
but my vantage point has made me
the fool.
the classroom in the branches
taught me desperation, how to cling to
twigs.
hundreds of hours of study and
not a jot learned until
You called me down to open
my home.
Rabbi, Rabbi,
Your teaching is in the meal.